


Wanna Hold the Hand Inside You

by Rainne



Series: Thank-You Fics [14]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - His Dark Materials Fusion, Fluff, Multi, Not Captain America: Civil War (Movie) Compliant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-17
Updated: 2016-12-17
Packaged: 2018-09-09 06:15:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,096
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8879167
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rainne/pseuds/Rainne
Summary: Darcy should really listen to her daemon.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Troodon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Troodon/gifts).



> This fic is part of my Thank-You Fics, so called because they have been written as thank-you gifts to people who have donated to my late mother's cancer fund, which helped to pay for her treatments and end-of-life care.
> 
> I am no longer accepting donations or prompts for these fics, but there are still many to come.

"You have to stop."

Topher looks up at her with an innocent expression. "Stop what?"

"Matchmaking," Darcy replies. "Stop it."

A low chuckle comes from Dottie. "We're not going to. You may as well give up."

"I'm not giving up, and you need to stop."

Evelyn yawns hugely and rolls over onto her stomach, then sits up and gives Darcy a piercing look with her one good eye.  "You should really know better than to even ask," she says frankly. "We do what we want, and you know that."

Darcy stares in despair at the little pile the three daemons have made in the floor of the conversation pit. She glances over to the kitchen, where Steve and Bucky are putting the finishing touches on whatever snack they've brought for movie night. Then she looks back over at the daemons. "Please?"

Topher laughs softly in his little squirrel voice. "Nope. May as well give in."

Dottie cuddles closer to Evelyn, bright black eyes blinking out at Darcy from the striped badger's face. "Why are you fighting it so hard?" she asks. "They're not."

"Of course they're not," Darcy hisses, trying to keep her voice down. "They're perfectly happy together. I don't know where you three got the idea that they're interested in me, because they're not."

Evelyn barks out a laugh, her tail thumping against the floor in her merriment. "Yeah, and I'm a World War I flying ace."

"You might be, Snoopy," Bucky teases her, coming in from the kitchen with a bowl of caramel popcorn in his right hand.  He leans over and rubs the beagle's head as he sits down on the couch. "Are you two tormenting Topher again?"

"It's hard to torment somebody that's enjoying every minute of it," Dottie replies tartly, as Topher climbs on top of her and nestles up against the back of her neck.

"Not really," Bucky replies, smirking. He holds out the bowl of popcorn to Darcy. "Want some?"

Darcy narrows her eyes at him but takes a handful of popcorn anyway, shaping it into a ball as she crosses the room and sits down on the other couch.  Evelyn huffs with laughter and settles down in the pile with Dottie and Topher, and Bucky gives Darcy a cocky grin.

"Why don't you sit over here with us, Darce?" Steve asks as he enters the room with a tray of drinks.  "You'll be able to see the TV better."

"Yeah, Darce," Dottie echoes, with the most innocent expression she can manage on her little badgery face. "Come sit over here."

"I'm fine, thanks," Darcy replies, taking a bite of her popcorn ball.

"Hmm," Steve replies, shaking his head. "Whatever makes you happy."

Movie night is less awkward when the rest of the team and peripherals pile into the room, talking and laughing, and Darcy is able to put the conversation with the daemons out of her mind - at least until it's over.  It's very late - just after midnight, in fact - and she's heading down the hallway to her apartment, Topher sprawled over her shoulder, when the daemon speaks. "You shouldn't ignore us, you know."

"I don't, actually," Darcy replies, pressing her hand to the biometric door lock. "What are you talking about?"

"Me and Evelyn and Dottie," Topher clarifies. "You shouldn't ignore us."

"I'm not ignoring you," Darcy replies a little defensively as she enters the apartment. "I'm just... having a hard time believing that you're not just fucking with me."

Topher gathers himself and leaps from her shoulder to the back of the couch, turning to look at her with reproach.  "Darcy," he says simply, "would I do that to you?"

Darcy holds very still for a long moment before sighing, coming around the couch and flopping down on the cushions. "No," she admits. "No, you'd never do something like that."

"Exactly," Topher replies, coming to nuzzle his head against her cheek. "You know better.  If I tell you something, you know it's true."

Darcy leans against him, reaching up to rub his head with two fingers. "You honestly think they're both into me? And they'd want me to... to join in?"

"I know for a fact that they're both totally into you," Topher replies. "Dottie and Evelyn are vehement about it. Apparently they talk about you a lot."

"Like... a lot, a lot?" Darcy clarifies.

" _A lot,_ " Topher insists.

Darcy chews on her lip for a long moment before standing up so suddenly that Topher falls onto the couch with a squeak of surprise.  "All right," she says. "I'm gonna do it.  I'm gonna go talk to them."

Topher stares in shock as Darcy heads for the door. "Right _now?_ "

"No time like the present, right?"  She heads out the door, her daemon scrambling to keep up with her. 

Steve and Bucky live on the floor above Darcy; the Avengers' apartments are much larger than those of their peripherals and various hangers-on, though Tony's penthouse is of course the largest of all.  Where there are ten apartments on Darcy's hallway, there are only five on the hallway above, where Steve and Bucky, Sam, and Thor and Jane live.  Steve and Bucky are at the end of the hall, and Darcy marches past the other four doors, determined to knock before her courage fails.

The door slides open a moment later and Steve is standing there in a plain white t-shirt and a pair of yellow pajama pants covered in poop emoji.  He blinks at her. "Darcy?"

"I have to ask you something," Darcy says, and she can hear that her voice has gone breathless but she doesn't care at this point.

"Is that Darcy?" Bucky asks, coming into view behind Steve. He is also wearing a plain white tee, but his pajama pants appear to be covered in Minions.  Darcy nearly loses her nerve at the sight, but decides in a split second that the Minion pants can be conveniently lost if this works out the way the daemons keep insisting it will.

Darcy swallows hard, sends up a prayer to whomever might be watching, tiptoes, and presses her lips to Steve's.

A moment later, she's wrapped in his arms and being dragged through the door, laughing at the dumbfounded expressions on the men's faces as the door shuts behind her.  The daemons cheerfully nest together in Evelyn's big dog bed, and the humans - eventually - do the same in the big waterbed.  And in the morning, though they look smug, the daemons very kindly refrain from telling Darcy any form of _we told you so._


End file.
